Visa shots made easy

If you’ve got a digital camera (or even a smart phone), some white walls and another person, you can get your own visa photos for nothing – instead of paying the photo kiosk for Bt150 for six photos. After you’ve taken the digital shot, visit www.epassportphoto.com and, using the country specifications guide, you upload the photo into the website, adjust and edit the photo. The website will try to sell you its Pro service so just make sure to click “No thanks” after you finish editing. You’ll then get four passport photos that you can print for Bt5.

 

Old Lao capital heads for the big time

Luang Prabang province, a major tourist destination in Laos, expects to have at least 165,000 visitors this fiscal year, an increase from 154,000 tourists in 2010/11. Currently, the boom town has about 150,000 travellers, says the Culture and Tourism Department, and the number of vacationers may well exceed its target. Tucked away in Laos’ north, Luang Prabang was the Lao capital before becoming a Unesco World Heritage site. The old town draws foreign tourists for its beautiful temples and as yet unspoilt lifestyle. – Vientiane Times/ANN

 

Rent an iPad 

The new iPad, loaded with stacks of travel applications, is now waiting for visitors to Singapore for S$30 a day. TouristPads (www.Touristipad.com) is the company renting out the iPads, giving travellers unlimited high-speed 3G connectivity anywhere in the city. Travellers can reserve their iPad online at least 24 hours, before they need it and the tablet will be delivered to the airport or hotel. Your Singapore Guide, Hungry Go Where and I Eat Hawker are among many helpful apps.

 

Korea from the bus

Seoul has launched its “K-shuttle” tour programme to promote the South Korea to foreign visitors. The “K-shuttle” takes in two circular routes, one travelling to southwestern parts of the country and the other to the southeast for trips that last for two nights and three days. Experienced tour guides with tour guide-interpreter licenses and EFR (Emergency First Response) certificates are on board the bus. For reservations, go to www.K-Shuttle.com.

 

Tourism growth in China slows

Despite the increasing number of tourists from abroad that Beijing received in the first half of the year, growth is slowing down. The capital welcomed more than 2.5 million tourists from overseas – including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan – in the first half of the year, an increase of 4.2 per cent year-on-year. However, the growth has slowed since the second quarter of the year and is expected to continue slowing down, according to the Beijing Tourism Development Committee. Beijing will come up with better idea to draw foreign tourists. – China Daily